Estimation of the mean caliper diameter of cell nuclei

In morphometric studies of lung tissue, accurate determination of the total number of any specific type of cell, such as the endothelial cell, requires knowledge of the shape of the cell nucleus. This knowledge of shape is necessary to calculate the mean caliper diameter, which, in turn, is an indispensible element of the equation for the number of nuclei (therefore cells) per unit volume (NV). Nine human hung endothelial cell nuclei were therfore reconstructed in dental wax from serial sections and were found to be pleomorphic triaxial ellipsoids. Five of these approached an oblate shape. The axes of these nine nuclear models were directly measured and a computer program using numerical integration was written to determine the mean caliper diameters of these ellipsoids. The estimated mean semi-axes of the nine nuclei were (+/-SD) 5.98+/-1.61, 3.61+/-0.70, 1.36+/-0.34; and the estimated overall mean caliper diameter for the total population of human lung endothelial nuclei was 7.97+/-1.27 micrometers.